This is my first post here, but I wanted to chime in on this since I recently acquired this disc. I'm still deciding on my vote on the mix though. I ordered this disc with some hesitation due to the claims that the DVD was authored incorrectly.
Regarding the channel authoring error claims that haven been made for this disc here and in this other thread:
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...2540-Futzing-with-the-HARVEST-DVD-Audio/page3 (was this excised from this thread at some point and moved to its own thread?), I think the mix you hear on the released DVD-Audio disc is what was intended.
If you compare the original stereo mix to the 5.1 mixes, you'll notice there is some consistency in instrument placement in the 5.1 mix that matches the original stereo mix, but spreads it across the front and back channels. I compared the stereo mix on the dvd as well as the original vinyl to the 5.1 mix on a few songs for the following:
- "Out on the Weekend" - The drums are panned slightly to the left and the acoustic guitar is panned on the right on the stereo version. The 5.1 mix also has the drums panned to the left front and rear channel and the acoustic guitar panned to the right front and rear channels.
- "Harvest" - The drums are panned more in the left channel, with guitar and piano on the right in the original stereo mix. The 5.1 mix mirrors this as well, with the drums on the left front and rear channels, and the acoustic guitar and piano in the right front and rear channels.
- "Heart of Gold" - The drums and pedal steel are panned mostly in the left channel with the acoustic guitar with harmonica panned slightly right. The 5.1 mix has the drums and pedal steel panned the left front and rear channels. The acoustic guitar and harmonica are panned to the right front and rear channels.
- "Needle and the Damage Done" - The audience is in the back left and right channels, where they should be (not in the front channels), in the 5.1 mix.
If you start moving any of these channels around then you mess with the intended 5.1 placement mirroring the original stereo mix.
Also, there was a claim that you can hear all sorts of mix elements other than just bass in the sub channel when it's isolated, proving that the disc was authored incorrectly. If you read the Elliot Mazer article that was linked a few posts up, you'll see that Mazer mixes with the sub channel off at first and then later routes what ever he feels needs to have some bass represented in the mix to the sub: "If you rely on the subwoofer for most of your low-frequency information, your final mix will be bass-light on systems that do not have subwoofers, so I turn the subwoofer off when I am doing my basic mix. When this mix starts to sound like music, I turn on the subwoofer and blend in an appropriate amount from various instruments."
